The necessity of sterilizing surfaces for health and sanitary purposes has long been recognized. Effective sterilization processes are needed for a variety of purposes including aseptic packaging, medical instrument sterilization, biocidal vector environmental remediation, fumigation, vessel sterilization, food stuff treatments, and others.
Among the compounds known in the art which are useful for bacterial sterilization is peroxyacetic acid. Typically, peroxyacetic acid is employed in aqueous-based systems as an equilibrium mixture comprising peracetic acid, acetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide. While such systems have been shown to be effective, in many instances a separate rinsing and/or drying step is required. This can add considerable expense and time to the sterilization process, particularly when the substrate may be adversely affected by high temperatures needed to expedite the drying process.
It would therefore be highly desirable to possess a method for using peroxyacetic acid as a sterilizing agent which method did not require an energy intensive or time delaying drying step.